After Homura had awakened as a warrior, Black Gold Saw kept a close watch on her while Madoka hid with Lavender in the Realm. Madoka had not come into contact with Homulily since her awakening but had tried to talk to Homura in the real world. She didn't understand how Homura could act so indifferent towards her and not even recognize her. Saya had already explained to her that this was the defense mechanism that each girl possessed and used when they could no longer stand the pain but no matter how much Saya explained, Madoka couldn't come to terms with it. Since the day she had met Homura, the girl had done nothing but protect her and make sure nothing bad ever happened but now she was acting like she didn't even exist. Had she really hurt her friend so bad that the only thing she could do was forget about her? She didn't understand. Yuu had mentioned that best friends hurt each other the most but how? She knew Rock and Dead Master fought all the time because Yomi was still a bit insecure about herself and the whole concept of friendships while Mato was trying to have a healthy balance between her feelings and others. The two girls were causing themselves pain to avoid the other one pain. But Madoka and Homura's friendship wasn't like that, right?
Lavender had decided to protect Madoka in the Realm so that Homulily wouldn't try to kill her but had started to notice Homulilywasn't the only one after them. Madoka didn't spend all day in the Realm, as she belonged to both worlds and was only there during her sleep, so Lavender had most of the day to herself. Or so she thought. She had started to notice a shadow following her everywhere she went, even the places she had long ago claimed as her own and thought nobody else knew about. She wasn't the type of girl to be scared of things easily in the Realm, this was her terrain and knew every last part of it but this shadow had started to make her uncomfortable. Lavender confided in Madoka and told her she had a bad feeling and even admitted to being a bit worried. Madoka felt a jolt in her stomach as she had already lost a friend and didn't want to lose another one. Lavender saw the worried expression in Madoka's face and laughed, teasing Madoka about worrying more than she did and reminding her that she couldn't really die in this world as death was only temporary in the Realm. At least for those that belonged to this world.
During the day Madoka tried to win Homura back and make her remember her while in her sleep she did the opposite and hid from Homulily as best as she could with the help of Lavender. She had become aware of the shadow Lavender had mentioned a while back but did not know who it could be as it would always disappear before they could properly see it. "Do you think maybe its Homulily?" Madoka asked her friend one night while they hid. "I doubt it. If it were her, she would have attacked by now. Warriors don't really sneak up on you and make a whole plan to kill you, they're more instinctual beings that just attack their target whenever they see them." Madoka nodded slightly. She still refused to believe that Homura would ever try to hurt her but she had to remember that this wasn't Homura anymore, this was a 'witch'. She had been busy thinking about Homura and wondering what she had done to hurt her so much as to become a witch when she was splashed with blood. She screamed as she looked in horror at Lavender pressing both hands against her neck to try and stop the bleeding but it wasn't much help. Madoka's eyes wandered around trying to locate her aggressor and spotted the hooded figure standing not far from them with a crescent-shaped sword now red with blood. "Who are you?! Why did you do this?" she cried as she held Lavender in her arms. The stranger did not respond and simply watched as Madoka struggled to keep Lavender alive. She knew death was only temporary here but, it that was the case then why did Lavender look so scared? Why was she still fighting to stay alive? When Lavender gave her last breath and finally laid still, something inside Madoka told her she wasn't going to come back to life.
The hooded figure had watched up until Lavender's body had begun to break apart and emit a black light until there was nothing left of her but dust before removing her hood. Madoka had been in enough shock simply by seeing her friend die without having to find out that her assassin was Black Gold Saw. Saya's warrior approached Madoka but simply took some of the ashes that remained of Lavender and examined them a bit. The girl was speechless as she could have never imagined that the counselor's own warrior would have ever tried to hurt either one of them. Saya had told them that she did not have any special bond with any of them and knew how to control her feelings so her warrior never attacked anyone unless they attacked her first. Had she suddenly lost control? But if that was the case then that meant that Saya knew Lavender in the real world and had a type of bond with her. Madoka couldn't understand any of it but Black Gold Saw seemed to be able to read her mind and she simply stated "We did it to protect you and your friend Homura. This girl didn't belong in our world. She was dangerous."
Madoka woke up the next morning with sweat dripping down her face. Part of her wanted to go back to sleep and try to see if Lavender had somehow come back to life but another part of her needed to go to Saya and ask what Black Gold Saw had meant. Why had she killed Lavender? If not belonging to their world was the reason for it then why hadn't she tried to kill Yuu or Madoka? They didn't belong there either, they belonged in the real world but she hadn't seemed bothered by this. She knew there was something more to this, a deeper meaning to have caused Saya to permit BGS to do something like that. With Homura's indifference towards her and Lavender gone, Madoka felt alone. She still had Miki-san in the real world but lately she had been spending more time with Kyoko Sakura as she had mentioned feeling lonely and a bit jealous. Madoka had always been a cheerful person and she knew if she went to Miki and Sakura they would help her but something was stopping her from going. She didn't want them to worry about her and so she decided to keep it inside and deal with it on her own. Even though she wasn't a magical girl in this world, she could feel her soul gem beginning to get stained.
"Saya-san, please explain what last night was about." As always, Saya poured some coffee for the girl before actually sitting down and getting herself involved in the conversation. "I thought Black Gold Saw had explained things to you." Was her only response but upon seeing Madoka's look of exasperation, Saya proceeded to explain that Lavender was a dangerous girl. She had felt a powerful and evil presence in both worlds and had finally arrived at the conclusion that it was coming from Lavender. "She came from your world. It wasn't just you and Homura but also Kyoko Sakura, Sayaka Miki, and Lavender Grief Gem. For some reason Sayaka Miki and Kyoko Sakura seem to have become part of our world but you three girls haven't. Homura recently awakened as a warrior which is something that Lavender seemed to have done a while ago. By killing Lavender I was doing two things: 1. Getting rid of the evil powerful presence and 2. Finding out what would happen to Homura if another warrior were to kill her in the Realm." Madoka simply stared in disbelief at Saya-san. Had she really killed her just for research purposes and the feeling of her being evil? Black Gold Saw had never even had any type of interaction with her so how could she conclude anything about her? And what had she learned for Homura's benefit? Saya answered the last question by explaining that she now knew that if someone were to kill Homulily in the other world, Homulily would indeed be gone forever but Homura would still be alive. What Homura would be like emotionally was still something she needed to figure out by studying Lavender's human persona. "Wait. You know who Lavender is in this world?!" Madoka asked excitedly. They had tried to find her for a long time but had never had any success in doing so. How did Saya suddenly know who she was? "Yes. I know who she is in this world. It's not… who you would think she would be. However, for your own good I ask that you don't try to find this person. I need to do observations on my own and you interfering could cause trouble so please stay out of it." Saya asked in a serious voice making it sound more like a command rather than a question or plea. Madoka didn't complain or ask any more questions after that and simply went to class. Mato and Yomi saw her and waved in the hallway but Madoka continued walking without giving them any type of response. When they asked if she was okay she smiled with her lips and said she was fine but they could see that her eyes were empty. There was no light in them and had become dull. Even Homura, who had no feelings towards her became a bit concerned over her. For some reason, the look in Madoka's eyes gave her a familiar feeling. Homura had been through despair before even if she didn't remember it all and could easily spot when someone had begun to lose faith in a better tomorrow.
